the year in books [III]

I said in my first post of 2019 that I had a fifty-book gauntlet of history books lined up. Well, scratch that. I'm doing something different this year, trying to be more spontaneous (a good challenge for an aspie like me). I tossed out my history reading list and am simply going to be thinking two books ahead, and my choices will come solely from the library shelves the day I visit. These are the first four 'spontaneous' history books of 2019:

Antonio Santusuosso's Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels: The Ways of Medieval Warfare is a sweeping survey of medieval warfare. It covers major campaigns and traces the evolution of warfare and tactics down the ages. Numerous battles are covered, and Santosuosso delivers excellent treatment of the so-called barbarian tribes that overran Italy and Spain, as well as one of the best treatments I've ever seen on the rise of the Islamic Empire. He also covers Ango-Saxon England, the Norman Conquest, the Hundred Years' War between England and France, and the Crusades. 

Christopher Tyerman's Fighting for Christendom: Holy War and the Crusades is a survey of the Crusades. In addition to giving an excellent break-down of the Crusades, Tyerman explores the rationale behind the Crusades and how religion became such a motivational tool. He explores the rise of Just War Theory from its founder St. Augustine up to the fall of Constantinople. 

Thomas Abridge's The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones follows the life of the knight William Marshal, who played an important role in politics and history through the days of the Angevin Empire to the signing of Magna Carta during the reign of King John and beyond. 

John Julius Norwich's Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe is a narrative history of the lives of the four major European monarchs during the 16th century: King Henry VIII of England, King Francis I of Francis, Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, and Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire. His writing style is fantastic; I'll have to pick up some more books by him.